Was it a shot or a cross? Not even AIK striker Ivan Obolo knows, and he struck the ball.
Obolo scored the lone goal of the game as he led AIK to a 1-0 win over Djurgården May 18.

by Chipp Reid

Obolo scored the lone goal of the game as he led AIK to a 1-0 win over Djurgården May 18 in front of 21,884 fans at Råsunda Stadion. The Argentine lofted a ball from 40 yards out that caught everyone – teammates and opponents – by surprise when it dropped into the net behind Djurgården goalkpeer Pa Dembo Touray.
“I’m really not sure what happened when I hit it,” Obolo said. “It acted funny in the air. To be honest, I don’t know if it was a shot or a cross. I was surprised when it went into the goal.”
Obolo took a pass from AIK defender Daniel Tjernström with his back toward the goal. He turned, took a couple of steps, and fired the ball into the area from 15 yards or so away from the right corner of the penalty box. Touray had positioned himself in the center of the goal area, expecting a cross. He could do nothing as the ball first bent to the left, then came back right and dropped into the goal, brushing the near post.
“It was not an easy ball to track,” Touray said. “He was just as surprised as me. No goalkeeper can anticipate a ball like that.”
Obolo said he saw Touray shading toward his left when he decided to put the ball on the near post.
“I guess it was a shot, but I also thought maybe someone would run onto it. It was a big surprise when it just went in,” Obolo said.
The Argentine, who joined AIK in 2007, has now scored four of AIK’s nine goals this season, and he has four assists. AIK defender Joos Hooifeld said Obolo is “40 percent of the team.”
“I don’t know about that,” Obolo said. “(Joos) is a good friend of mine.”
When he scored, the AIK faithful rang out the cheer of “Obogooool,” mimicking Spanish-language commentators whose cries of “goal” during telecasts of World Cup matches have become a staple of global football..
“It has gone well for me at AIK and I hope I can continue to play here in the future,” he said. “We had a lot of chances in the second half that we should have taken advantage of, including me. Djurgården also played very well in the second half, so it was nice to get the win.”
Djurgården had two golden chances to tie the game midway through the second half when first Kebba Ceesay then Boyd Mwila were one-on-one against AIK goalkeeper Daniel Örlund, but both times Örlund stood tall. At the other end, Obolo had Touray beat but lofted his shot over the crossbar.
“It was an unfortunate result for us with an unfortunate goal,” said DIF head coach Andree Jeglertz. “We had out chances but, just like we have all season, we didn’t take advantage of them and it cost us.”
The victory moved AIK within a point of first-place Elfsborg. AIK has 18 points from a 6-0-3 record while Djurgården remained mired in the relegation zone with just seven points from a 2-1-6 mark.